Were you inspired by previous Permaculture Weekends? Would you like to volunteer with us? We’d love to hear from you! Help make this year’s event extra awesome: Fill out the form in the right margin of this page.
Dear Friends,
We’re fortunate to live in an agriculturally-rich region with the social capital to organize around what matters: people and the planet. Now more than ever we need to channel our energy to creating more resilient communities.
FLPCI exists to provide educational opportunities so that more and more people in our region have the skills to regenerate our bioregion and communities. If you’ve been inspired by the promise of ecological design, or if you have benefited from a workshop, course or the Permaculture Weekend, here are three ways you can help nurture the permaculture movement in the Finger Lakes:
With your support in any of these three capacities, we will improve next year’s Permaculture Weekend by:
• purchasing an “event software” to make it easier for you to register and receive updates about the events you will be attending
• organizing transportation for thematic “tour routes” to make this event more accessible and high-impact than ever while also furthering our collective efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions on the weekend.
The Permaculture Weekend highlights individual and collective efforts to develop regenerative food systems and social systems to strengthen communities and build bioregional resilience. This past year, 18 homes, farms, businesses, and community gardens offered tours, workshops, skillshares, presentations, and pop-up marketplaces with hundreds of visitors traveling from as far away as New Jersey and Canada.
Next year, we hope to have even more high-impact opportunities to learn, share, and connect.
From our families to yours, we wish you a wonderful winter.
The FLPCI Board of Directors,
Peter Cramer
Karryn Olson-Ramanujan
Anna McKown
Rebecca Cutter
Michael Burns
Cornell University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Extension and Outreach Program
along with the
Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute
offer as part of an online
Begins July, 2019
Enrollment is open for “Permaculture Design: Fundamentals of Ecological Design.” Cultivate your ecological literacy by looking at complex symbiotic relationships in both natural and constructed systems. Explore and apply systems thinking to your own garden, farm, or backyard.
This course is one of three in a series offered in permaculture design leading to a Permaculture Design Certificate. (Read more about Permaculture Design: Ecosystem Mimicry and Permaculture Design: Design Practicum.)
To sign up or read more visit: http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/extension-outreach/distance-learning
Participants make observations on their own projects to learn permaculture design.
This course is designed by Steve Gabriel of “Farming the Woods” with Michael Burns of Cayuta Sun Farm. Both are cofounders of the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute. Michael Burns will be the course instructor.
Steve Gabriel and Michael Burns
This opportunity, organized by Cornell University’s Department of Horticulture, is based on the permaculture curriculum and activities developed by the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute over the past decade of teaching people from all walks of life.
This program provides rigorous, evidence-based instruction in the principles and methods of permaculture design based on the internationally recognized curriculum.
Engage in over 72 hours of study that meets Cornell’s standards for instruction in the best practices of permaculture assessment and design. Work on your own, while participating in class discussions with students from around the world using their own homes, farms, and projects to learn. Get one-on-one guidance by phone or teleconference during office hours held two or more times a week.
You will produce a draft design for your chosen site toward your portfolio requirement for a Permaculture Design Certificate issued by the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute.
Learn permaculture while designing your own site.
The full Permaculture Design Certificate curriculum is organized into four parts spanning at least 17 weeks. The courses can be spread across several years. Either this course or “ Permaculture Design: Ecosystem Mimicry” are prerequisites for the third course “Design Practicum,” a 3 1/2 week practicum. Completion of all three courses plus a final review of your practicum work by other teachers from the the Finger Lakes Permaculture Instiute is required to earn your certificate.
Instructional videos, readings, online discussions and activities on your own site give you hands-on experience exploring and practicing permaculture design.
Class size is limited. Enrollment frequently sells out.
To sign up visit:
http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/extension-outreach/distance-learning
To request notice of future courses in the PDC series fill out the form at:
http://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3jRTnAjc9UBFdwV
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Dear Friends and Alumni of the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute,
We invite you to grow the regional permaculture movement with us.
During the past twelve years we have accomplished FLPCI’s mission through thirteen 15-day Permaculture Design Certificate (PDCs) courses with hundreds of graduates, six 36-hour Community Trainings in Ecological Design courses (CTEDs), four successful Permaculture Weekends and dozens of workshops reaching thousands of people.
In 2018, FLPCI became a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization. This is a critical moment and an opportunity for FLPCI alumni, collaborators, and surrounding Finger Lakes communities to direct our organizational compass.
Help us in any of these ways:
Council of Elders
Recognizing that modern culture often fails to honor, respect, or seek wisdom from Elders, FLPCI’s board strives to form a group of guides who share FLPCI’s vision. This Council of Elders would hold FLPCI and its programs accountable to the vision of creating equitable and regenerative cultures, and provide insight from many years of lived experience. Elders would convene with the board periodically to give direction to the Permaculture movement but will decide on the nature and frequency of their input. To nominate yourself or another person for a position as an Elder, please email us: board@fingerlakespermaculture.org.
Volunteers
FLPCI is always open to new volunteers, and planning for the annual Finger Lakes Permaculture Weekend has begun! If you are interested in joining us to co-organize 2018’s event, please email us: board@fingerlakespermaculture.org.
Sincerely,
Karryn Olson Ramanujan, Rebecca Cutter, Aaron Fernando, Sylvia Este, Estelle Waterman, Denise Grant, Bari Zeiger, Bonnie Gale & Peter Cramer
Cornell University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Extension and Outreach Program
along with the
Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute
offer as part of an online
The next class begins in January, 2019. Registration is open and limited to 15 participants.
To request notice of future classes in this series fill out the form at:
http://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3jRTnAjc9UBFdwV
January – April, 2019
Enrollment is now open for “Permaculture Design: Ecosystem Mimicry.” Cultivate your ecological literacy by looking at complex symbiotic relationships in both natural and constructed systems. Explore and apply systems thinking to your own garden, farm, or backyard.
This course is one of three in a series offered in permaculture design leading to a Permaculture Design Certificate. (Read more about Permaculture Design: Fundamentals of Ecological Design and Permaculture Design: Design Practicum.)
To sign up or read more visit: http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/extension-outreach/distance-learning
Participants make observations on their own projects to learn permaculture design.
with support from
presents
Friday Evening Public Talk:
June 9, 2017, 7-9 PM
Concerned about the impact of agriculture on Owasco Lake and our local water supply? Come learn practical ecological solutions for growing food while maintaining healthy watersheds with landscape designer and author Dave Jacke and local forest gardener Peter Cramer.
Healthy forests maintain, fertilize, and renew themselves, naturally. They also build and maintain healthy watersheds. Would you like to grow an abundant food-producing ecosystem like that in your yard or on your farm? You can!
Edible forest gardens mimic the structure and function of natural forests through all their stages of development and grow food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizers, farmaceuticals, and fun. We can meet our own needs and regenerate healthy ecosystems at the same time. This talk introduces the vision of forest gardening with some scientific background, a few living examples, and a sampling of some useful perennial edibles for home- or farm-scale. We’ll pay special attention to how forest garden systems can help rebuild the health of Owasco Lake.
Location: Theater Mack, 203 Genesee St, Auburn, NY
Cost: $10 donation requested at the door. Free admission for OWLA members. Nobody is turned away for a lack of funds.
Saturday-Sunday Workshop:
June 10-11, 8:30 AM – 5 PM
Sliding Scale: $180-$250, includes Friday evening program. Payments above the base of the sliding scale fund scholarships for those in need–please be generous!
Learn how to create healthy food-producing ecosystems by mimicking the structure and function of natural communities! Building on the Friday night talk, for two days we’ll explore the vision, theory, design, and practice of ecosystem agriculture using temperate deciduous forests as models. Lectures, field observations, and experiential classes will reveal the nature of ecosystem architecture, social structure, underground economics, and succession. Participants will also design and plant some forest garden patches at the Auburn Permaculture Park. We’ll learn by doing–and by playing–in a serious way.
Location:
Booker T. Washington Community Center, 23 Chapman Ave, Auburn, NY.
Instructors:
Lead instructor Dave Jacke is the primary author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens. He has studied ecology and design since the 1970s, and has run his own design firm—Dynamics Ecological Design—since 1984. He has designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in the many parts of the United States, as well as overseas. An innovative and engaging teacher, he earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon’s Rock College and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design.
Assistant Instructor Peter Cramer is an alumni and board member of the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute. Peter has been teaching ecological design, plus organizing and designing permaculture projects in Auburn, NY.
Visit the Registration page for information about tuition assistance for residents of Auburn, NY.
Cornell University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences Extension and Outreach Program
along with the
Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute
offer an online
Permaculture Design Certificate course…
This course is designed by Steve Gabriel of “Farming the Woods” with Michael Burns of Cayuta Sun Farm. Both are cofounders of the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute. Michael Burns will be the course instructor.
Steve Gabriel and Michael Burns
This opportunity, organized by Cornell University’s Department of Horticulture, is based on the permaculture curriculum and activities developed by the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute over the past decade of teaching people from all walks of life.
This program provides rigorous, evidence-based instruction in the principles and methods of permaculture design based on the internationally recognized curriculum.
Engage in over 72 hours of study that meets Cornell’s standards for instruction in the best practices of permaculture assessment and design. Work on your own, while participating in class discussions with students from around the world using their own homes, farms, and projects to learn.
You will produce a draft design for your chosen site toward your portfolio requirement for a Permaculture Design Certificate issued by the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute.
Enrollment for the first course
Permaculture: Fundamentals of Ecological Design
is now open.
Sign up to be notified when future enrollments begin and learn more at: http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/extension-outreach/distance-learning
The first 6.5 week long course and provides an opportunity for you to build your knowledge about permaculture and ecological design.
Participants will explore the content through videos, readings, and activities and complete portions of a design for a site of their choosing.
Learn permaculture while designing your own site.
While the course is online, the format is designed for consistent interaction between instructors and students through forums and review of assignments. Readings and presentations will be directly applied through hands-on activities students will engage with at home.
There are two additional permaculture design courses:
– Permaculture Design: Ecosystem Mimicry: Begins January, 2019
– Permaculture Design: Design Practicum:* Begins April, 2019
*Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Ecological Design or Ecosystem Mimicry
Completion of a single class gives students a certificate of completion from the Cornell Dept. of Horticulture and Continuing Education units. Completion of all three courses gives students the portfolio necessary to apply for an internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate though the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute.
Space is limited to 15 participants. Fee is $675 for the first course paid via credit card at sign up. See registration link at:<http://hort.cals.cornell.edu/extension-outreach/distance-learning.>
The temperate northeast appears abundant in water, mostly. While California and parts of the southwest suffer the effects of long-term drought, eastern states are experiencing multiple record-breaking precipitation events.
Often there is too much water for the landscape to hold and time between rainstorms too short. Precipitation viewed over the long-term shows relatively even distribution over the seasons, yet any northeastern farmer or gardener can tell you that no two seasons are alike, and its rare to get the perfect amount and timing of rain for crops.
(Figure 1) United States Government Report on Climate Impacts, 2009
With the additional uncertainty of climate change, projected water dynamics suggest an even more uncertain future. The northeast is projected to receive 67% of its rainfall in extremely heavy events (Figure 1).
Instead of gentle, soaking quarter to half-inch rainfalls, we can expect to see or more three to four-inch rain events. This has drastic implications for soils, infrastructure, and ponds, rivers, and streams, which will change rapidly in size, shape, and flow from such impacts.
The even spread of rainfall throughout the four seasons is also likely changing. In the northeast, we can expect to see a 20% increase of precipitation in winter, although more will come as rain and less as snow. Summers are projected to be drier for much of the region, with water more scarce as it is most needed for more crops. (Figure 2).
(Figure 2) United States Government Report on Climate Impacts, 2009.
The good news is there is much we can do as farmers, gardeners, landowners and users to catch, store, and clean water to both mitigate the effects of flooding and erosion and to reduce costly irrigation and water infrastructure. Permaculture design views water as a resource and an opportunity for harvest of this most precious resource as Steve & Elizabeth Gabriel show at Wellspring Forest Farm.
To meet their challenges, they have designed solutions including a code-approved rainwater harvesting systems, earth works systems including swales, ponds, and terraces to harvest to store water into the soil, and productive plantings to mitigate the effects of seasonal creeks and floods that produce food and medicine for market.
During the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute’s course on May 2nd and 3rd, students will be able to see first-hand an integrated water design for this 10-acre landscape that includes all these features. We will explore the elements already installed and discuss their successes and failures. The class includes a hands-on installation of a new swale system and riparian buffer planting along a stream. While making observations of the land and exercising practical skills, students will gain a fuller, more complex understanding of how to see water as an asset, and capitalize on its productive potential for the land and people.
This course has a sliding scale tuition based on what you can afford. The minimum price for the weekend is $125. The fee for only Saturday’s class is $75. There is also small charge for camping at Wellspring Forest Farm. If you can afford to pay more, your additional tuition will help support the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute carry out this event and other educational programs.
Read about all the upcoming permaculture courses
